Art by Otto Stark
A Drink of Water by Jeffrey Harrison
When my nineteen-year-old son turns on the kitchen tap
and leans down over the sink and tilts his head sideways
to drink directly from the stream of cool water,
I think of my older brother, now almost ten years gone,
who used to do the same thing at that age;
and when he lifts his head back up and, satisfied,
wipes the water dripping from his cheek
with his shirtsleeve, it’s the same casual gesture
my brother used to make; and I don’t tell him
to use a glass, the way our father told my brother,
because I like remembering my brother
when he was young, decades before anything
went wrong, and I like the way my son
becomes a little more my brother for a moment
through this small habit born of a simple need,
which, natural and unprompted, ties them together
across the bounds of death, and across time …
as if the clear stream flowed between two worlds
and entered this one through the kitchen faucet,
my son and brother drinking the same water.
Other poems I read this week:
"I woke up ignorant in a forest;
only a moment ago, I didn’t know my voice
if one were given to me
would be so full of grief, my sentences
like cries strung together.
I didn’t even know I felt grief
until that word came, until I felt
rain streaming from me."
-from Trillium by Louise Glück
"if I listen carefully to certain music
I can just remember what it's like
to live
inside the perfect closeness
of another's breath
it seems extraterrestrial
in hindsight"
-from Somewhere There's a Nothing I'm a Part Of by Elaine Kahn
"I am sick of your sadness,
Jericho Brown, your blackness,
Your books. Sick of you
Laying me down
So I forget how sick
I am. I’m sick of your good looks,
Your debates, your concern, your
Determination to keep your butt
Plump, the little money you earn.
I’m sick of you saying no when yes is as easy
As a young man, bored with you
Saying yes to every request
Though you’re as tired as anyone else yet
Consumed with a single
Diagnosis of health. I’m sick
Of your hurting. I see that
You’re blue. You may be ugly,
But that ain’t new.
Everyone you know is
Just as cracked. Everyone you love is
As dark, or at least as black."
-Dark by Jericho Brown
It looks good on me,
the color of imperfection.
On them, aubergine.
Ignore things with bruises
or two. Most people
turn purple after a day,
assume how, the dents,
the shape, the bruises.
Far or close to its tree
the fruit falling.
That’s important to you:
A story, about something
I want to tell you."
-from On Sadness by Devi S Laskar
Recommended Listening:
It All Feels All Right - Washed Out
Endings get an early start - Amit Erez
Andrew Bird's Live From The Great Room feat. Jonathan Richman
A Journey Through Every Billboard Top 5 Hit to Find Music’s Greatest Era
Coronavirus and how it's changed our world (Statues with masks)
Links of the Week:
In Defence of a Bad DIY Haircut before its Post-Lockdown Debut
Hospitals are bringing nature into stressful COVID-19 ICUs
Girls by Girls: Portrayals of Womanhood by Female Photographers
30 Photos Of Strangers That Look Like Twins Taken By Photographer François Brunelle
Book Review: Vanni (my first ever book review, for The Hindu Business Line)
AP's Kashmir photographers win Pulitzer for lockdown coverage
May: Personal Project Month
I don't think it's a thing (yet) but I'm treating May as the month when I complete some long-due personal projects. In the first week, I installed the free trial of Adobe InDesign, figured out basic layouts, and completed three books I've always wanted to work on within the week. Here they are:
Crown Shyness - My first collection of poems written over 30 days during self-quarantine with my own illustrations :)
Paramankeni Dreaming - A collection of poems, photographs, and artworks created during a 10-day visit to poet Tishani Doshi's seaside home in Paramankeni, Tamil Nadu.
I Dream of Ladakh - My first photo book dedicated to Ladakh. I hope the photographs offer some respite from all the madness and bad news around us these days.
Source: GIFER
If you're working on a creative personal project to keep you engaged during lockdown, do write back to this email with some links to your work/work-in-progress. I'd love to check it out :)
Stay sane and strong, wherever you are.
Sending love,
Rohini